Over forty-four percent of incarcerated journalists in China are Uyghurs.
U.S. House lawmakers introduce a resolution on World Press Freedom Day, condemning China, Russia, and Belarus for repressive actions against journalists. The resolution states that China, labeled as one of the worst media environments globally, seeks to limit political speech both domestically and internationally, citing the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) 2021 findings.
Bahram Sintash, a Uyghur American, revealed that his father, Qurban Mamut, the former chief editor of the China-controlled Uyghur journal Xinjiang Civilization, has been detained in China for over four years. Sintash learned in February that his father was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Chinese authorities. According to CPJ's 2021 report, 50 journalists are currently imprisoned in China, including 22 Uyghur journalists from Xinjiang, representing 44% of China's imprisoned journalists and 7.5% of the 293 jailed journalists worldwide in 2021.
Peter Irwin, the senior program officer for advocacy and communications at the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, stated that China has long targeted Uyghur journalists. Irwin noted that Uyghur journalists were among the earliest targets for suppression and imprisonment by the Chinese government. Before 2015, independent Uyghur journalists who wrote, moderated blogs, or published were targeted for their work. After 2015, the government began focusing on Uyghur journalists who adhered to arbitrary rules and still faced imprisonment.
Nine of the 22 imprisoned Uyghur journalists worked for an independent website called Uyghurbiz, co-founded by Ilham Tohti, a former Uyghur economics professor at Minzu University of China in Beijing. Tohti was sentenced to life in prison on charges of "separatism" in September 2014. Jewher Ilham, a Washington-based Uyghur rights activist and Tohti's daughter, said some of the Uyghur journalists who worked for her father's website remained imprisoned after serving their original sentences.
Abduweli Ayup, founder of Uyghur Hjelp, a Norway-based organization that documents China's Uyghur rights violations, suggested that CPJ's findings regarding imprisoned Uyghur journalists represent the "tip of the iceberg" and that his organization identified 40 imprisoned Uyghur journalists in recent years. Additionally, Ayup noted that while CPJ has confirmed 22 Uyghur journalists, many more may still be unaccounted for and yet to be added to the CPJ's list.
Rights groups and some countries, including the U.S., have accused China of mistreating Uyghurs, including subjecting more than one million Uyghurs to mass internment for "reeducation," forced sterilization, and labor or those either in or out of detention since late 2016. In January 2021, the U.S. government officially designated China's treatment of Uyghurs as genocide. Beijing denies these allegations, claiming the local people live a safe and happy life in Xinjiang.
- The CPJ's 2021 report, which details the imprisonment of 50 journalists in China, includes a significant number of Uyghur journalists from Xinjiang, raising concerns about the Chinese government's suppression of general-news and political reporting in this community.
- Misconduct in China's handling of the Uyghur population extends beyond the reported mistreatment and internment of over one million Uyghurs; the imprisonment of Uyghur journalists, some for over four years like Bahram Sintash's father, Qurban Mamut, indicates a clear effort to limit education, crime-and-justice reporting, and freedom of speech among this group.
